Salisbury recalls Novichok terror after quiet city was thrown into ‘world of James Bond’

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. And then we went through that period of, ‘gosh, where could be?’” open image in gallery Sol Rimer said the Novichok incident ‘could have been catastrophic’ Mark Chum, who runs a stall selling music and games, described a “very weird eerie atmosphere” in the weeks that followed, adding: “It was all anyone talked about.” The 48-year-old, who moved to Salisbury 15 years ago “because it was a quiet little town”, said: “There was definitely fear because you were like, ‘what the hell has been released? It was just a weird spotlight of the world on little Salisbury all of a sudden.” open image in gallery Mark Chum recalled a ‘weird’ and ‘eerie’ atmosphere in the weeks after the Skripals were poisoned However, for the most part, daily life carried on in Salisbury as normal, traders said, with residents and regular customers from further afield rallying to support the market to make up for any custom lost as a result of concerns about the poisonings. “We couldn’t evacuate the city, life had to go on,” said Ms Smith, adding: “But it did colour Salisbury for a long time, it held a cloud over it.” open image in gallery Dawn Sturgess’s family released a new photograph of her on Tuesday as they gave evidence to the inquiry into her death But residents also widely expressed a sense of having moved on from the events of six years ago. I think that it will just be a memory.” open image in gallery Paul Smith said the attacks on the Skripals were ‘analagous to the world of James Bond' Mr Rimer also recalled the shock of the international connotations of a potential Russian assassination attempt on UK soil becoming clear, “and how fragile I guess we are all are to that sort of outside influence”, adding: “Coming from somewhere like this, you don’t ever think that international news will affect you.” But he agreed that “weirdly, we have benefitted a lot” since, adding: “Salisbury was perhaps a forgotten place, like most provincial towns and market cities and towns are”.